2013 - 2014: September 2014

WHEW!!! September has nearly flown by already as we crammed in as many family events as possible, not to mention routine doctor, dentist and other "old age" appointments. The fun began with cousin Karen & hubby Rudy’s 50th Anniversary Party at Wente Brothers Winery in Livermore CA. This started family things off in grand style. Karen is 1 year younger than I and we shared hundreds of frequent, fun family times together since we were infants!!!

Karen & Rudy Bilawski

First cousins - chronological order
Roy, Glen, Don, Gary, Nancy, Karen, Dian, Kathi & Bronwyn (missing Hilary)

Even though Grandson Kenny celebrated his 11th birthday on Aug 16, the family and friends official party was Sept 7 because of a massive redo of their back yard, a new job for his mom Kristine, lots of business travel for son-in-law Richard, who works for Intel, in addition to many sporting events for Kenny.

Happy B'day smile - Grandpa Don gave Kenny
rattlesnake rattles (13 rattles, 1 button) from a snake he killed in
our yard in Colfax. Kenny liked it, wouldn't you say!!!

Kenny enjoyed the pool - (see that new landscaping),

while Carmen's dog enjoyed riding the boogie board.

The next day we welcomed a great quick visit from good friends Rod & Marge Raudstein from Templeton CA (and AZ) as they headed off on an RV trip to Oregon. A few days later we took in Railroad Days in downtown Colfax, population 1512.

Don joins Marge & Rod for a tour of our house and yard..

After a big lunch we drive them back to the local
Chevy dealer where we arranged for them to park their rig.
Only possible in a small town.

Colfax is an early railroad town, established in 1850
first called Illinoistown.

Many unique Union Pacific railroad cars were available
for "boarding and viewing". What a treat.

Do you know what this is?
Rotary Snow Plow used to clear the tracks
as trains head over Donner Summit.

Union Pacific rolls into Colfax at 2:30... to make the festival
complete. Got great video of this - click on arrow to play.
That's me in the green shirt, video taping, while Don uses
his iPhone to videotape me - big draft caused by the train!!!

Main street is lined with original buildings and historical markers
that tell the story...

Loved the bar sign and town reflection.

Then Don and I raced off to Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park for our annual “sibs” reunion with my two brothers and their wives. We rented a house in Three Rivers CA., population 2182, at an elevation of 937’. It sits just outside the gates to Sequoia NP our 2nd Nat'l Park, established Sept 25 1890. It encompasses a vertical relief of nearly 13,000', so the roads are "hairy and scary" to say the least. It contains the highest point in the contiguous 48 States, Mount Whitney at 14,505 feet and is also famous for it's giant Sequoia trees.

Where we stayed in Three Rivers CA

Sequoia NP headed for Moro Rock...

This is what we climbed... 797' stairway up to 6725' elevation.

This unique trail was placed on the US Nat'l Registry of
Historical Places in 1931.
Trail pitches off very steeply on both sides.

A distant view Kings Canyon
from atop Moro Rock, Sequoia NP

We admire a group of giant sequoias
Sequoiadendron giganteum

Tunnel Tree as Roy drive his SUV thru, you get a feel for its
massive size... not the car, the tree!!

By volume 52,513 cu ft, the largest known living
single stem tree on earth. Hard to get it all in one photo...

so I took a photo of a picture postcard!!!

The next day we took a different more pastoral route to
Kings Canyon NP,
but it also got "hairy and scary" after rolling hills.

A quick lunch stop at noon near the "Big Stump" trail
with our "subway" sandwiches (since we didn't eat lunch till 2:30
the day before). Kings Canyon NP

Roy 77, Don 76, Glen 76 at base of General Grant Sequoia
at Kings Canyon NP

General Grant Tree stands alone - Kings Canyon NP
267' tall, 107' circumference, 28.9' diameter
46,608 cu ft (volume)

Looking down into Kings Canyon and the road
down to the valley floor!!!

Roy returns from the overlook into Kings Canyon.

Don's been working on his geocaching Sept calendar with much success, and some pickle ball happened, but not as much as normal, due to a massive local forest fire... see below.

To answer inquiries from many of you, (thank you), we have been laying low the last few days due to the King/Pollock Pines fire 20 miles East of us, (as the Raven flies). 89,000 acres still burning, 32% containment as of this morning (day 10). It has blanketed us in smoke for days on end which has given us time to catch up on "inside" household activities before leaving for AZ for the winter, Oct 4th (via NV and UT) for a couple of pickle ball tournaments and geocaching!!!

The day the King fire started - view from our deck

View from same deck the last week...

View along I-80 near Colfax... Today... UGH

I'll try to report in as we travel... This should be easier to do now as we are traveling by car (instead of RV) and hotels seem to have better wi-fi than those RV Resorts.

Sometimes it's flowers, hikes, geocaches or even a barn kind of day... Today, just for fun Antlers:

This guy is really enjoying our garden while we enjoy him!!! Incidentally he has 2 buddies that are both "four pointers", but they manage to stay out of camera and hopefully gun range. FYI Each antler grows from an attachment point on the skull called a pedicle. While an antler is growing, it is covered with highly vascular skin called velvet, which supplies oxygen and nutrients to the growing bone. Antlers are considered one of the most exaggerated cases of male secondary sexual traits in the animal kingdom and grow faster than any other mammal bone. Growth occurs at the tip, (see the little tip at the tip of one antler). Once the antler has achieved its full size, the velvet is lost and the antler's bone dies and the antlers fall off. As a result of their fast growth rate, antlers are considered a handicap since there is an immense nutritional demand on deer to re-grow antlers annually, and thus can be honest signals of metabolic efficiency and food gathering capability.